Hey folks,
I know, it's been a while, but I promise things will pick up soon. As everyone knows, I work full-time and I am in school part-time, so my time tends to be limited. With that said, I plan on making a bigger commitment to my blogs, which can now also be seen on pettyprattle.com.
Last night, 3/6/25, I went to the early release viewing of Queen of the Ring, the biopic that is based off the book of the same title. The story is that of Mildred Burke, a pioneer of women's wrestling. I will be honest, I knew the name but never knew the story. I absolutely loved the movie. Now, I have to get the book. Ash Avildsen did a great job portraying the story of Burke, and the rest of the female talent at the time, as struggling to get their careers on the map. To be honest, the only few characters in the movie that I knew well were Mae Young and Gorgeous George, and even then I didn't know their stories very well.
I fully believe that this movie, similar to The Iron Claw, is made for a general audience. It was a movie about a single mom who faced struggles trying to get ahead in her career and follow her dream. Wrestling is just the backdrop for the story. Seeing the struggles that women went through from the NWA, and the government, was strange for someone who grew up seeing women on almost every card. I never realized that womens wrestling was illegal until the 1960's and 1970's.
Knowing that Charlotte Flair was originally cast as June Byers, made me thankful that Kamille was the final choice due to WWE's lack of involvement. Charlotte would have stood out too much as a big star. Kamille is lesser known on the grand scale, while being very popular in the wrestling community. I know Liv Morgan was also originally cast to be Clara Mortensen, but Toni Storm was ultimately cast in the role. On this one, I am indifferent. Toni Storm is not as well known, but neither is Liv Morgan. Storm looks tougher than Morgan, so I could buy her in this role in this period piece. Trinity Fatu (Naomi) had a small part in the film, as Ethel Johnson. This is also the second wrestling project that Kelli Berglund has been in, with her also having a starring role in Heels. I wonder if she is a wrestling fan. I also have to give huge props to Emily Bett Rickards for playing the titular role of Mildred Burke. She made me believe that she WAS Burke, going through the struggles of what Burke faced during her career.
There were a number of facts that I never knew about and learned from this movie. I never realized that Jack Pfefer was instrumental in putting the perfomance into wrestling, the storytelling, the showboating, etc. I also never knew that Mildred Burke was so influencial on Gorgeous George, thus creating the most over heel at the time, and biggest television star back then. Billy Wolfe had always been a name that I associated with the Fabulous Moolah, who incidentally was not even mentioned in the movie. I can see how he put a lot of power behind the movement of popularizing women's wrestling. Although he was an asshole, and a womanizer, he had a vision for change in the industry. I did not like that Wolfe, played by Josh Lucas, used the quote from Scott Hall's WWE Hall of Fame speech.
No matter what, this is a great movie, and I would love to have Ash Avildsen or Kelli Berglund as a guest on our podcast to talk all about this movie!
